Election Central

Fulcher wins top legislator award from Idaho GOP Central Committee

Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Russ Fulcher — as he seeks to end Republican Gov. Butch Otter’s 28-year run in elected office by denying Otter a third term — has been named “Outstanding State Legislator” by the Idaho Republican Central Committee.

The award was announced Saturday at the committee’s annual winter meeting at the Riverside Hotel in Garden City. Otter and Fulcher, a five-term senator from Meridian, square off in the May 20 primary.

The award came on the same day as the Governor’s Gala Celebration, held Saturday night at Boise State University’s Jordan Ballroom. Today at 1 p.m., Otter delivers his eighth State of the State Address at the Capitol to open the 2nd session of the 62nd Idaho Legislature.

A news release follows from the Fulcher campaign:

ID GOP Awards Senator Russ Fulcher “Outstanding State Legislator”

“I promise to not let up on my fight for smaller government and less federal intrusion in Idaho.”

January 4th, 2014

(Boise, Idaho) The Idaho Republican State Central Committee today awarded Senator Russ Fulcher their annual “Outstanding State Legislator” designation. Senator Fulcher was presented the award before the attendees of the State Central Committee’s winter meeting. The award is one of 8 given annually by the central committee.

Senator Fulcher graciously responds to the Idaho Republican State Central Committee, “I’m honored to be named Outstanding State Legislator of the Year by the State GOP today! I promise to not let up on my fight for smaller government and less federal intrusion in Idaho. Thank you.”

As Senator Fulcher has spent his time in the Senate working towards policy that empowers Idahoans to advance Idaho, he has become well known to the Republican State Central Committee as a principled, conservative leader.

Dan Popkey came to Idaho in 1984 to work as a police reporter. Since 1987, he has covered politics and has reported on 25 sessions of the Legislature.
Dan has a bachelor's in political science from Santa Clara University and a master's in journalism from Columbia University. He was a Congressional Fellow of the American Political Science Association and a Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan. A former page in the U.S. House of Representatives, he graduated Capitol Page High School in 1976.
In 2007, he led the Statesman’s coverage of the Sen. Larry Craig sex scandal, which was one of three Pulitzer Prize finalists in breaking news. In 2003, he won the Ted M. Natt First Amendment award from the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association for coverage of University Place, the University of Idaho’s troubled real estate development in Boise. Dan helped start the community reading project "Big Read." He has two children in college and lives on the Boise Bench with an old gray cat.